Cathie Martin’s Working Media on One Side

/in /by

And her FCC Chair hubby, Kevin Martin, is working media on the other side. The LAT reports (h/t Sirota) that the FCC is leaking information on key votes to big stakeholders. Since there’s a restriction on lobbying in the week before a vote, this has the effect of making it impossible for those representing citizens to lobby in a timely fashion.

People are allowed to submit comments and meet with FCC commissionersand staff until one week before a public meeting. The FCC circulatesdrafts of its proposed rulings and decisions among its staff so theyknow what items are scheduled to be voted on. But the information isconfidential, and FCC rules prohibit anyone from releasing it withoutthe chairman’s authorization.

"FCC officials told us that, for stakeholders to successfully maketheir case before FCC, ‘timing is everything,’ " the report said."Specifically, if a stakeholder knows that a proposed rule has beenscheduled for a vote and may be voted on in three weeks, thatstakeholder can schedule a meeting with FCC officials before the ruleis voted on."

Those who don’t know about an upcoming vote until the agenda isannounced are frozen out of lobbying by the one-week prohibition, theGAO said.

"FCC staff who disclose nonpublic information about when an issue willbe considered could be providing an advantage to some stakeholders,allowing them to time their lobbying efforts to maximize their impact,"the report said.

So we’ve got Kevin Martin giving (presumably) the telecoms an unfair advantage in rulemaking. All the while his wife is declaring that "Dick Cheney controls Tim Russert." This one couple pretty much has the media conglomerates by the balls. But don’t you worry–I’m sure it will have no negative effect on our democracy.

And while we’re reading this article, if you had to guess which large (presumably) telecom this is, what would you guess?

"One stakeholder — representing a large organization that is involvedin numerous rulemakings — told us that FCC staff call them and tellthem what items are scheduled for a vote," the report said.

Hmmm. Large organization, numerous rulemakings (which probably means net neutrality and consolidation and so on). This wouldn’t have anything to do with the United States of AT&T, would it? I mean, just because AT&T has taken over DOJ and the White House doesn’t mean it has taken over the FCC, does it?

 

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  2. emptywheel says:

    bmaz

    Yes, Cathie Martin, Dick’s former flack, now working in the WH.

    She has no direct role in teh FCC, except that she’s sleeping with the guy who has all the control there. I just think it so fascinating that he’s selling us out while his wife is flacking the Pres.

  3. Anonymous says:

    EW said: â€She has no direct role in teh FCC, except that she’s sleeping with the guy who has all the control there.â€

    I would edit that to say â€She has no revealed direct role in teh FCC…â€

    Seems to me that her take on controlling the media message vis a vis Timmeh for her Lord Darth Cheney during the â€Let’s betray a CIA officer†Valerie Plame/Wilson affair, makes pretty clear that she and hubby do more than just fool around in the bedroom.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Jeepers, that is one incestuous ship the Bushies float over there on the Potomoc. Powell’s kid, Martin’s husband. There are several husband/wife pairs split between the DOJ and White House as I recall. It ain’t that small of a world, and these are not the best people for the job; nothing but pure incestuous nepotism.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Bet this is part and parcel of the squabbling going on between Google and Verizon over the 700 Mhz spectrum auction:

    http://www.marketwatch.com/new…..3FFC030%7D

    Need to watch this situation much more closely. My concern is that Verizon will try to pull the rug out of other players who are far more committed to net neutrality than they are; witness VZ’s blockage of text messages by NARAL to their constituency over VZ’s network, with VZ claiming the message in question was â€inappropriateâ€). Believe this is the ONLY area where Google and Microsoft see eye-to-eye, and that even MSFT had been thinking of throwing some money in towards a cooperative/collaborative buy of this spectrum with Google and one or more other players.

    This is not the first time that bandwidth has been monkeyed with by telsatcos, either. We don’t have pervasive nationwide WiFi primarily because of similar monkeyshines that kept it out of our reach.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Are you saying that its the water, not the land, Mr. Gittes? And what exactly happened to your nose?

  8. prostratedragon says:

    Actually, I think Gittes is trying to say that if he’d known it was really the girl he’da sat in his office out of Mrs. Mulwray’s way and laid the whole land thing off on some two-bit Village reporter who’d led Noah Cross around in such pointless circles he wouldn’t even be able to find his way home.

    One day I’m going to catalog the movies where you know the â€heroâ€â€™s in trouble and how much by what happens to his nose.

  9. Rayne says:

    BTW, as unhappy as I am about it, this explains why GOOG hired a known Repug lobbying outfit; they wanted the insiders’ view.

  10. semiot says:

    Pillow talk. And fear of pillow talk by your power couple enemies – because you employ it, so ergo they must as well if they can, or they’re fools if they don’t.

    Here, my friends, is the real motive behind the betrayal of Valerie Plame Wilson. Why, it’s as plain as the nose on Lynne Cheney’s lovely face.

  11. JohnJ says:

    Rayne:
    â€Need to watch this situation much more closely. My concern is that Verizon will try to pull the rug out of other players who are far more committed to net neutrality than they are;â€

    Thank you, I brought this up in the last post about AT&T. There is a huge frequency auction for cell phones coming up that is worth BILLIONS to the telcos, and Goog is trying to get into it. If someone with a any tiny piece corporate conscience (ha) remaining gets a chunk, the telcos could lose a portion of that GOP favorite business model; Monopoly. They hate to compete with anyone not in the â€clubâ€.

    I realize that everyone seems to love the new cell phone services, but we’re getting gouged, BIG TIME! Cell phone service costs the providers a fraction of the cost of land lines; how much was your last cell phone bill?

  12. Anonymous says:

    Exactly, JohnJ. The 700 Mhz doesn’t cost anybody anything right now, used for transmitting non-HDTV; it’s the equipment at the ends that costs money, and once amortized, it’s all gravy.

    I do hope that GOOG is prepared to go all out to bid on this frequency; they have ability to do it easily, and I hope they make the point of simply using their raw, naked economic hegemonic power to take it, regardless of the posturing of the telsatcos. VZ and the rest of the cell companies will have a difficult time making the argument that the U.S. doesn’t need the money.